ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Clippers 11/17/2023

Seriously I haven’t been into the rockets in years and finally love watching and the refs are still ruining games. Seems pointless we’re gonna win what they let us win. It’s basically WWE at this point

 

We were the better team. We our played them on offense and destroyed them in defense. Just dumb we should have won by ten

 

Good game. The refs sucked, but the Rockets made several youthful mistakes at the end that cost the game. Part of growing up.

 

Most "talking heads" are hypocritical idiots in any field, not just sports. What else is new.

That said, all else being equal, I do prefer watching a more team-oriented offense to a heliocentric one, and Harden's offenses have undeniably always revolved around him (at least since he first got to Houston). He isn't wrong when he calls himself "the system". Whether that's good entertainment is in the eye of the beholder.

 

We need a scorer off the bench or another scorer period we went trough two scoring droughts last night that lasted almost 5 minutes each. I don’t think Amen is gonna be that dude THIS season

 

During the Harden era the Rockets were not only posting top offenses in the league, but top offenses in league history, at one of the highest paces in league.

The spurs had an ok, but boring as hell - offense consisting of Kawhi dribbles and Aldridge post-ups - running at one of the slowest paces in the league.

But, it was always the Rockets and Harden that were ruining the NBA accoridng to the vocal naysayers. It was always Harden who was "hunting for fouls" whereas the Warriors actual fouling (again, so much so that that the league had to change the rules) was ignored. And the Spurs were of course never mentioned as insanely boring, but man they were boring as ****!

It's funny actually because the year after the Warriors committed 8 landing zone uncalled fouls against Harden in Game 7, and Morey lsot his **** and ran to the league and demanded a replay, and the league *changed its policy* in response a few months later....the reason smart NBA take havers that Zac Lowe cited for teh league's rule change, multiple times in the future, was because the Warriors had injured St. Kawhi Leonard on that play 18 months prior in the 2017 WCFs (in a series they woudl have lost anyway)

So Harden doesn't even get credit for the landing zone rule change - it goes to Kawhi!

I wish it was Kawhi, the ROckets would have beaten the Warriors in game 7 the next year if they'd called that foul.

(in the same vein, NBA take havers always mention Harden for the ban of the "Rip through" foul drawing move - when that was clearly a Chris Paul (and somewhate Trae Young) specialty. Whatever.)

 

Still mad about the loss. But I guess it’s a good thing because this is first time in 3 years I feel mad about a loss. My fandom is back.

 

Nba Refs always remind me it's entertainment not competition.

 

Really good effort. I thought turnovers and free throws were the difference. LA went to the line a lot more and that helped them in a close game, but Sengun, who I thought was mostly terrific, had half as many turnovers by himself as the Clippers had as a team. He has to cut those down. Anyway,it is what it is, I'm not even mad. You can't win 'em all. This team is WAY way improved.

 

Hey listen y’all. I don’t want to hear any whining or b****ing. I done told y’all dis was a trap game. We got the Fakers next and if we lose that game. Then you can go off.

 

Yeah to be honest this was the most rigged game I've seen, somebody looks at a Clipper they get to the line and on the other end our guys were getting clobbered left and right but no call. This is really disadvantaged for the Rockets cuz they rely on defense, how can you play defense when every defensive move is called a foul? And even then the Rox were up and it needed a step back 3 with a hand in his face to put the team away. This team is crazy good when you consider our core are a bunch of 21 yr old and younger lol.

As far as Im concerned our core 4 played great, yeah they had their warts and all but on the whole they all showed up. Sengun is obv franchise material, and Jalen did a great job keeping us in the game with his fts and defense. Jabari and Tari were somewhat active and both grabbed a decent amount of boards.

Some of takeaways are that the Rockets really need a backup center, every minute Landale is on the floor the team just sucks ass. Maybe just play Jabari at Center and give more minutes to Tari Eason, he was actually really effective in his mins. People kept hyping ScrubDale up and so far I haven't seen him do anything but miss passes and move as slow as Boban on the court.

Secondly we are extremely deep at the forward positions, Udoka can look at moving either Tate or Eason at the backup sg slot. Tate, Eason, Green and Holiday are all really capable players, if FVV or Green aren't being effective sub those guys in immediately.

Finally, this team is for real. This is supposed to be the "hell" part of the schedule, and the Rox are either winning or losing by single digits. After the deadline this team is gonna start crushing the competition when they start meeting the ECF opponents.

 

You realize Green is 21 yrs old right? Look at Harden's performance when he was 21 SMH. I don't know whether Green will be as good as Harden but at the very least he is a lot better than 21 yr old James Harden.

 

Green will be Kobe. I read that on the interwebs

 

Yes, I realize that he's still 19 years old and that it's not fair to expect competent performance until he's at least 43.....love that excuse.

 

He is competent otherwise Udoka wouldnt play him 33 mins. You think you are smarter than Udoka?

 

That In Season Tournament P.......

 

So it took 4 all stars, refs and the biggest choker in basketball to finally make a step back travel 3 and fall down in order to beat this young team... This is good, I wanted the win too but because I'm not stupid I understand that losing is better for this team right now. They are learning, you don't learn through success but through failure. Jalen Green is so young, I just can't be mad at him... Its dumb to expect him to do things veteran super stars are doing in only his 3rd year. I mean, some stars like Harden only do it a couple of times a year in the regular season so I'm not mad at ya... Its a tough road trip, I think they win tomorrow v Lakers and again Monday vs GSW... By Tuesday Rockets are going to be 8-4 and I'm happy with that...

 

This counted as a steal for PG and a "turnover" for Alpi. There was another dribble down the lane when Alpi got grabbed on the side and "turned it over."
Down to 4 turnovers now, then the "offensive foul" for hooking on a spin move. It was a gentle Jokic hook nothing blatant like shaq. They let it go usually. 3 turnovers.

Adjusted Assist to turnovers, 5 assists (easy dunk for Uncle green where he got fouled and no called) 3 turnovers.
That PG "steal" led to a three. Should have been foul number 5 for George. The 'hooking' took 2 points off the board.
People wanting to look for someone to blame on the turnovers. half of them were fouls.


What really hurt was Green not milking the clock on his last 2 drives. Maybe if he slows down the refs actually can keep up and see the fouls. Who am I kidding. They weren't going to call them.

 

So his 54% TS% is "competent" in your opinion? Sorry, but the numbers suggest that he's not competent as does the eye test. He's had good games, but overall he's been bad.